Volume 105, Issue 6 p. 3967-3985
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impact of non-framework cation mixing on the structure and crystallization behavior of model high-level waste glasses

Nikhila Balasubramanya

Nikhila Balasubramanya

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854 USA

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Zhenxuan Sun

Zhenxuan Sun

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854 USA

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Mostafa Ahmadzadeh

Mostafa Ahmadzadeh

School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Program, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

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Saeed Kamali

Saeed Kamali

Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, Tennessee, USA

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

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Daniel R. Neuville

Daniel R. Neuville

CNRS-Géomatériaux, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 1 rue Jussieu, Paris, France

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John S. McCloy

John S. McCloy

School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Program, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

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Ashutosh Goel

Corresponding Author

Ashutosh Goel

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854 USA

Correspondence

Ashutosh Goel, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 30 January 2022
Citations: 2

Abstract

Spinel crystallization is known to be detrimental to the operation of Joule heated ceramic melters during the vitrification of iron-rich high-level nuclear wastes (HLW) into borosilicate glasses. The literature on this subject focuses on tackling the problem by developing empirical constraints to design compositions, which limit the fraction of spinels formed in the melter or by developing empirical models to predict the settling behavior of spinels in the melter as a function of the glass composition. While these empirical models can predict the behavior of most of the compositions, they are not failsafe as there are always some compositions, whose behavior is beyond the predictive ability of these models. This can lead to undesirable situations during the vitrification of the nuclear waste, and therefore an in-depth investigation of the chemo-structural descriptors controlling the crystallization behavior in these glasses is warranted. Accordingly, the present study aims to understand the impact of non-framework cation mixing (i.e., Li+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+) on the structure (through Raman spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy) and crystallization behavior (through XRD, SEM-EDS, and vibrating sample magnetometry) of iron-rich model HLW glasses in the system: (mol.%) x MyO–(25−x) Na2O–9.12 B2O3–6.4 Al2O3–51.25 SiO2–7.22 Fe2O3–0.38 MnO–0.08 Cr2O3–0.55NiO (MyO = Li2O or CaO).